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MAYORS OF BOSTON 



ILLUSTRATED EPITOME 

OF WHO THE MAYORS HAVE BEEN 

AND WHAT THEY HAVE DONE 




PRINTED FOR THE 

STATE STREET TRUST COMPANY 
BOSTON, MASS. 



F73 



f A' 



Copyrighted 1914 

BY THE 

State Street Trust Company 



Compiled, Arranged and Printed 
i'nder the direction ok the 
Walton Advertising and Printing Company' 
Boston, Mass. 



fit 7 1914 



/ 

0;CI.a'h;i>O3 5 



INTRODUCTION 




HE State Street Trust Company takes pleasure 
in presenting to you the eighth of the historic 
brochures that it issues annually. The Com- 
pany has chosen as its subject this year "The 
Mayors of Boston." And the purport of this pamphlet has 
been to present, in a brief but interesting manner, sketches 
and portraits of those who have been at the helm of Boston's 
affairs since the beginning of the city. It has not been 
possible to give equal space to all of the mayors, because of 
lack of space and because some of them have been so much 
more active in public affairs than others. The aim, however, 
has been to gi\'e each mayor the perspective that he deserves, 
so that those who have been most potent in the direction of 
city affairs naturally receive fuller treatment than those 
who have been less potent as mayors. Every effort has been 
made to make this brochure accurate, and, wherever it has 
been possible, the compiler has gone to the original source of 
information. 

The compiler desires to acknowledge here the courtesy 
of ex-Mayors Samuel A. Green of the Massachusetts His- 
torical Society, Nathan Matthews, Esq., Edwin Upton Curtis, 
Esq., Thomas Norton Hart, Esq., Mayor John Francis 
Fitzgerald, Colonel William A. Gaston of the National Shaw- 
mut Bank, Professor Theodore Lyman, and others who 
have kindly aided in the preparation of the work. 

It is hoped that this book will be found a fitting companion 
to the historic brochures already issued by this company. 




Josiah Quincy 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 




HE handful of men that came over from Charlestown hi 1630, 
to avail themselves of the spring which William Blackstone 
had found so copious on Shavvmut peninsula, probably had 
no idea that the little settlement which they then and there 
began would ever reach the size and dignity of the Metropolis 
of New England. 

In fact, for many years after the beginning of the settlement and 
even after it had grown to the size of a large town, the realization that 
it would ever become a city had dawned upon few, if any, of the town's 
inhabitants. The form of government from the beginning was that 
of the old-fashioned town meeting, in which each freeman had a voice 
and in which the town affairs were regulated by the whole body of free- 
men. And this continued to be the form of administration until the town 
affairs became so unwieldy that certain persons were delegated to order 
them. At first these were chosen for six months, and then for a year, 
and finally they came to be called the Board of Selectmen. 

A later step was the selection of town officials to look after special 
departments of public service, such as constables, surveyors of highway, 
clerks of market, sealers of leather, packers of fish and meat, and hog 
reeves. By 1708 the town-meeting form of government had become so 
inefficient that attempts were made to pass a draft of incorporation for 
the better government of the town; but it came to naught. And again 
in 1784 a petition of influential citizens secured the appointment of a com- 
mittee which reported two plans for the better government of Boston: 
one making the body politic a mayor, aldermen, and common council 
of the city of Boston, and the other making the town a body politic, the 
president and selectmen of the city of Boston. But, when this plan was 
put up to the town voters, it was decided inexpedient to make the al- 
teration suggested. Ineffectual efforts were made in 1791 and 1804 to 
convert the town into a full-fledged city. Then it was discovered that 
there was no provision in the State Constitution giving authority to the 
General Court to erect a city government, and a movement was speedily 
begun which resulted in the passage April 29, 1821, of such an amendment 
to the Constitution. 

Although the population of the town in the previous year was 43,298, 
and the town meeting had become a farce, as it was frequented largely 
by public officials and less than fifty disinterested voters, save when 
questions of great interest came up, still the conservative element, desiring 
no change, opposed every step in the direction of a city. So influential 
a man as Josiah Quincy, who later became the second mayor of the city, 
was one of the most strenuous opponents of the movement to make Boston 
a city. 

In January, 1822, the question was again brought before the inhabi- 
tants at a special meeting in Faneuil Hall, and there a committee reported 
in favor of a chief executive to be called the Intendant, who should be 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 



elected by the selectmen; an executive board of seven persons called 
Selectmen, to be elected by the inhabitants on a general ticket; and a body 
with mixed legislative and executive powers, called the Board of Assist- 
ants, to be composed of four persons chosen from each of the twelve wards. 
This report was amended by changing the name of the Intendant, taken 
from the French, to the name mayor, selectmen to aldermen, and Board 
of Assistants to Common Council. 

This form of government was submitted to the people of Boston, 
together with a query as to whether the name "the Town of Boston" 
should be changed to "the City of Boston." The vote on the chang- 
ing of the name to the City of Boston was carried by 2,727 affirmative 
votes and 2,087 nays. The governor approved the act establishing the 
city of Boston, February 23, 1822. The new charter was drafted by Mr. 
Lemuel Shaw, later justice of the Supreme Court, the principal head was 
named "Mayor," the "Board of Aldermen" was fixed at eight members, 
and a "Common Council" of forty-eight persons created, four from 
each of the twelve wards into which the city was divided. The charter 
incorporating the city was accepted by the town March 4, 1822, by a vote 
of 2,797 to 1,881. The city government was thereupon organized, and on 
May I, 1822, John Phillips was chosen mayor. 

The mayors were elected annually until the Statute of 1895 made the 
term two years, which began with the election of Josiah Quincy in 1896. 
The four-year term began with the election of John F. Fitzgerald in 1910, 
the statute changing the term from two to four years having been passed 
in 1909. 

JOHN PHILLIPS 

First Mayor, 1S22 

John Phillips was one of the committee of twelve which reported favor- 
ably upon a charter to make the town of Boston a city. After its adop- 
tion, January i, 1822, an attempt was unsuccessfully made to elect a 
mayor; but the factions could not choose between Josiah Quincy and 
Harrison Gray Otis. As it was felt that Phillips could unite the fac- 
tions, he was asked to run, and his almost unanimous election showed 
the wisdom of the nomination. He was inaugurated A4ay i, 1822, 
running the government along the lines of the new charter. Mr. Phillips 
was conservative, kind, and conciliatory, and his administration, which 
was marked by republican simplicity, enjoyed the confidence of all 
parties. 

He was the son of William and Margaret Phillips, and was born 
November 26, 1770, on the family estate about where 39 Washington 
Street was in 1852. For many years his widowed mother kept at the 
place of his birth a dry-goods store. 

At the age of seven he entered Phillips Academy, Andover, founded 
by a relative, and went to Harvard in 1784, graduating as salutatory 
orator. After reading law with Judge Thomas Dawes, he was admitted 
to the bar. Upon the establishment of the Municipal Court, John 
Phillips was made prosecutor, and in 1809 he became judge of the Court 
of Common Pleas. 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 



As one of the delegates in 1820 to revise the Constitution of the state, 
he exhibited much wisdom and rare humor. He became in 1812 a 
member of the corporation of Harvard College, and as such served until 
his death, Aiay 29, 1823. 

"His administration laid the foundation of the prosperity of our city 
deep and on right principles," his successor. Mayor Quincy, said; while 
Mayor Otis could say of him, "His aim was to allure, not to repel, to 
reconcile by gentle reforms, not to revolt by startling innovations." As 
a speaker, he was clear, forcible, conciliatory, and convincing. 

He left at his death eight children, one of whom was Wendell Phillips, 
the great abolitionist orator. 



JOSIAH QUINCY 

Second Mayor, 182^-24-2^-26-27-28 

Josiah Quincy has been called the "Great Mayor." To him the city is 
indebted for Quincy Market and many of the early improvements. He 
was the son of Josiah Quincy, Jr., and Abigail Phillips, and was born 
February 4, 1772, in a house on Washington Street — then called Marl- 
borough^not far from Milk Street. 

It is said that his mother, a woman of great strength of character and 
original hygienic and social ideas, was wont to have her son, when he was 
but three years old, taken from bed every morning, winter and summer, 
into a cellar kitchen, where he was dipped three times in a tub of water 
as cold as it came from the pump. 

He entered Phillips Academy at Andover when he was six, and went 
to Harvard when he was but fifteen. Upon graduating, the English 
oration, the highest honor, was given to him. He was admitted to the 
bar in 1793, and early became interested in public affairs, joining the 
Federalist party, to which he clung as long as it existed. 

So brilliantly did Quincy deliver a Fourth of July oration in 1798 that 
he attracted much favorable attention, and, though he was but twenty- 
eight, he was selected in 1800 by the Federalists as their candidate for 
Congress. Although defeated, he was in the spring of 1804 elected to 
the State Senate and to Congress in the following November, serving 
three terms before he voluntarily retired. 

While in Congress there was scarcely a question upon which he did 
not speak brilliantly and exhaustively. His attacks upon Jefferson and 
his administration were most bitter and sarcastic. After his withdrawal 
from Congress in 181 3, he was elected to the Massachusetts Senate, and 
served there until 1820, when he was elected to the House and became 
its speaker. 

He was made in 1822 a judge of the Municipal Court, and in the same 
year when the city government was formed he was asked to become a 
candidate for mayor, running against Harrison Gray Otis. The first 
ballot resulted in no choice, and the two candidates withdrew and John 
Phillips was elected mayor. The next year Mr. Quincy was chosen mayor, 
and he at once laid a masterful hand on the tiller of affairs. He made 
himself chairman of all committees, improved the sanitary conditions of 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 




Harrison Gray Otis 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 



the city, and organized a system of street cleaning and collection of 
garbage. 

In spite of determined opposition he personally secured the options, 
bought the lands, and built Quincy Market. The corner-stone was laid 
by him, April 22, 1825, and he opened the market in 1827. The site was 
made by the filling in of the land about the town dock in the neighbor- 
hood of Faneuil Hall and the reclamation of about 125,000 square feet 
of land and flats. On the made land was erected the granite market 
house now known as Quincy Market. The total cost of the land and 
the market house was i$i, 100,000. The increased real estate values, as 
well as the additional property secured by the city, more than paid for 
the whole improvement. The Fire Department was reorganized by him, 
and he caused the erection in South Boston of the House of Industry and 
the House of Correction. During his second administration Mayor 
Quincy had the honor of entertaining General Lafayette, who was then 
a guest of the city. 

After being five times re-elected, he was finally defeated, and retired 
from local politics. In 1829 he became president of Harvard, and re- 
signed in 1845, at the age of seventy-three. He was a prolific writer 
upon historical subjects. Among his works are "History of Harvard 
University," "A History of the Boston Athenaeum," a "Municipal His- 
tory of the Town and City of Boston," and numerous historical mono- 
graphs and biographies. Despite his great age he threw himself ardently 
into the anti-slavery controversy and the campaign to elect Lincoln. He 
died July i, 1864, at the age of ninety-two. 

HARRISON GRAY OTIS 

Third Mayor, iSjg-ja-^i 

The father of Harrison Gray Otis was Samuel AUyne Otis, and his 
mother was Elizabeth Gray, daughter of Harrison Gray, a Loyalist. 
Otis, who was born October 8, 1765. could remember standing at the 
window of his birthplace, which stood on the estate that adjoined the 
Revere House, and watching the British regulars march to Lexington. 

In 1783, when but eighteen, he was a first-honor man at Harvard, and 
had already given evidence of brilliant oratory that was to give him such 
a prominent place in New England. He studied law with Judge Lowell, 
and was admitted to the bar. Each morning at a very early hour Ben- 
jamin Bussy, a merchant, on his way to open his store, noticed a pair of 
shoes posted at the window of Judge Lowell's ofiice, and, led by his curi- 
osity to learn who could be there, discovered young Otis at study. More 
curious to know if young Otis studied all night, Bussy went by one morn- 
ing before daylight, and there were the shoes. He went in, and again 
found young Otis with his feet on the sill, who told him that the early 
morning was his favorite time for study. So impressed was the merchant 
that he straightway made young Otis his attorney. 

In 1796 Otis succeeded Fisher Ames as Congressional representative 
from Suflfolk County. He became one of the leaders of the Federalist 
party, and upon his retirement from Congress was active in local political 
afi^airs, serving as speaker of the Massachusetts House and also as pres- 



10 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 




Theodore Lyman 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 11 



ident of the Senate. In December, 1814, he was one of the delegates to 
the much-maligned "Hartford Convention," which met for the purpose 
of asking the Federal Government to allow Massachusetts and the neigh- 
boring states to assume their own defence and raise taxes for this purpose. 
He was appointed in 181 4 judge of the newlv establislied Boston Court 
of Common Pleas, and served until he resigned in 18 1 8, having been elected 
in 181 7 to the United States Senate. He was one of the great orators 
of his state. His wife, Sarah, was the daughter of William Foster. 

His speech in reply to Pinckney on the Missouri Compromise was one 
of the great speeches of the debate. Upon his retirement from the 
Senate in 1823 he ran for the governorship, for which he had in 1816 de- 
clined a nomination, but was defeated. In 1829 he was elected mayor, 
and held office until 1 83 I. He died October 28, 1848. 

CHARLES WELLS 

Fourth Mayor, lSj2-jj 

Charles Wells, the fourth mayor, who was born December 30, 1786, 
was elected as a protest of the middle classes against what they thought 
was the high-handed and extravagant way in which Quincy and Otis 
had managed the city's affairs. He was a master builder, and was by 
training little fitted for public office. In the election held December 12, 
1831, the three candidates, Charles W'ells, Theodore Lyman, and W'illiam 
Sullivan, received respectively 1,800, 1,800, and 1,100 votes. At the second 
election, December 22, Air. Wells was elected. Mr. Wells, who had 
previously been a member of the Common Council and Board of Aldermen, 
was a man of simple character, not much versed in public affairs. His 
two terms were uneventful excepting for the erection of the Court-house 
in Court Square, the extension of Broad, Commercial, and Tremont 
Streets, and the establishment of quarantine regulations, by which Boston 
was protected in 1832 from the cholera, then prevalent in the British 
Provinces. He died June 23, 1866. 

THEODORE LYMAN 

Fifth Mayor, 1S34-3S 

Theodore Lyman, the son of a successful merchant, was born I'ebru- 
ary 20, 1792, and was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy and at 
Harvard, graduating in the class of 1 810. After leaving college, he went 
abroad, where he spent four years, a part of the time travelling with 
Edward Everett. He was in Paris when the allied armies entered the city, 
and has given a vivid account of the scenes in his book, "Three Weeks in 
Paris." He also wrote a book on "The Political State of Italy" and 
one on "Diplomacy of the United States with Foreign Nations." 

He was fond of military science, and served for a time as a general of 
the Boston Brigade of Militia. His predilection, however, was for liter- 
ary pursuits, although he gave some attention to politics. He became a 
member of the legislature, and in December, 1833, was chosen mayor, 
serving during 1834 and 1835. As only a small part of the city received 



12 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 




Samuel A. Eliot 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 13 



water from Jamaica Pond through four main pipes of pitch-pine logs, one 
of his first acts was to call the attention of the Common Council to the 
need of bringing a steady supply of pure water to Boston. Colonel 
Loammi Baldwin, the distinguished civil engineer who had built the 
Milldam Driveway, reported that Farm Pond in Framingham and Long 
Pond in Natick were the most available sources, but nothing was done 
except to discuss the project until the administration of Josiah Quincy, 
Jr., in 1846. 

During Lyman's administration the Ursuline Convent on Mount 
Benedict in Charlestown (now Somerville) was attacked and burned on 
the night of August II, 1834, by a mob which had become incited by 
stories that nuns were locked in underground cells and that Protestant 
pupils were forced to become Catholics. The next day the mob which 
had collected was sent scurrying by the rumor that a horseman was gal- 
loping off to call the militia. 

Mayor Lyman established the State Reform School at Wcstboro, and 
gave it ^22,500 during his lifetime and ^50,000 more in his will. At 
his suggestion a similar school for girls was begun at Lancaster. It 
was during Mr. Lyman's mayoralty that the Garrison mob gathered. 
A meeting of the female anti-slavery society was held on the afternoon of 
October 21, 1835, at the oificc of William Lloyd Garrison's Liberator at 46 
Washington Street. As there was much feeling against abolition, a mob 
gathered, which the few constables were unable to handle, and Alayor 
Lyman went with more men. Garrison attempted to escape from the 
mob by a back window into Wilson's Lane, now Devonshire Street, but 
was seized by the mob and dragged as far as the old State House, a part 
of which was then used as a City Hall, where he was rescued by the police 
and taken into the building; Mayor Lyman shielding him with his own 
body from the mob. To save Garrison from the mob. Mayor Lyman 
placed him in the carriage and drove him to the jail, where he was locked 
up, ostensibly as a disturber of the peace, but he was released the next 
day. The mayor was subsequently much criticised for not providing 
proper police protection for Garrison in the beginning and for not calling 
out the militia instead of treating Garrison as a criminal. It is but fair 
to Mayor Lyman to say that Garrison consented to Major Lyman's 
action, and was very glad to escape the mob by going to jail. 

Lyman's public life ended in 1836 with the election of Samuel T. Arm- 
strong, and he spent the last of his life helping the criminal classes. He 
died July 18, 1849, a few days after he returned from Europe, where he 
had been travelling with his son. His wife had died some years before. 



SAMUEL TURELL ARMSTRONG 

Sixth Mayor, jSj6 

Samuel Turell Armstrong was born in Dorchester, April 29, 1784, his 
father being Captain John Armstrong. He learned the trade of a printer, 
and began business as printer and publisher with Joshua Belcher. One 
of their earliest productions was a literary work called "The P^merald." 
After the dissolution of his partnership with Belcher he set up a shop in 



14 MAYORS OF BOSTON 



Charlestown, and there published the first number of the PanopHst, a 
monthly magazine relating to religious topics and missionary work. 

In 1811 he moved to Boston, and opened at 50 Cornhill a store and 
publishing house, which became the mart of the religious literature for 
the orthodox churches. He took into the firm Uriel Crocker and Osmyn 
Brewster, his apprentices, and, though the general partnership was later 
dissolved, Armstrong was connected with the firm till his death. One of 
his publications in 1820 was Scott's Family Bible in six royal octavo 
volumes, one of the earliest instances of stereotyping on a large scale in 
America. 

He was captain of the "Warren Phalanx" in Charlestown during the 
War of 1812, twice a representative of Boston in the legislature, once 
senator from Suffolk, lieutenant governor of Massachusetts for two terms 
under Governor Levi Lincoln and Governor John Davis, and in 1835 he 
was acting governor. Governor Davis having gone to the Senate. The 
principal events in Mayor Armstrong's administration were the erection 
of the gloomy iron fence that originally enclosed four sides of the Common, 
the extension of the Mall through the burial-ground on Boylston Street, 
and the completion of the Court-house in Court Square. He was a 
member of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, and 
president in 1828 and 1829; and in 1845 he became a member of the 
New England Historic-Genealogical Society, and contributed generously 
to its foundation. His wife was Abigail Walker, the daughter of the 
Hon. Timothy Walker of Charlestown. He died March 26, 1850. 



SAMUEL ATKINS ELIOT 

Seventh Mayor, iS^J-jS-^Q 

Samuel Atkins Eliot, who was the father of Charles W. Eliot, president 
emeritus of Harvard, came of a long line of distinguished ancestors, the 
first of whom to come to this country arrived in 1668. He was the son 
of Samuel and Catherine Atkins Eliot, and inherited from them a moder- 
ate fortune, which was increased by the estate brought him by his wife, 
who was a sister of Mayor Lyman. 

He was born March 5, 1798, and graduated from Harv^ard in 1817 and 
from the Divinity School in 1820. Instead of entering the ministry, he 
spent three years studying languages and literature in Europe, and then 
devoted much of his time gratuitously to public service and charitable 
work. 

He was much interested in the Prison Discipline Society, was first 
president of the Boston Academy of Music, under whose auspices Beet- 
hoven's Symphonies were first given in Boston. As a member of the 
School Committee, he introduced music into the public-school curriculum 
of Boston, which thus became the first American city to make music a 
part of the public instruction. He served on the Board of Aldermen and 
in the state legislature. Eliot was mayor at a time when Boston needed 
a strong hand to save the city from the worst element, which was getting 
control. His eff"orts to organize both the Police and Fire Departments 
were successful only so far as the Fire Department was concerned. This 



MAYOR S OF BOSTON 15 



department, having become a nuisance and a menace, as firemen received 
no compensation, but were allowed a certain amount for "refreshments," 
a hoodlum element was attracted which soon filled the fire companies and 
made them as prone to riot as to put out fires. A crisis was finally reached 
on June II, 1837, when an Irish funeral "collided" with an engine com- 
pany coming from a fire. A fire alarm brought out another company, 
and soon 15,000 people were engaged in the riot, houses were barricaded, 
blood was spilled, and finally peace was restored by the mayor's arrival 
at the head of 800 Lancers and Infantry. This resulted in the establish- 
ment of a paid force. He also created the first organized day police. 
Previous to this there was no day police, but a night watch only, con- 
sisting of 1 10 watchmen and 10 constables, who were on duty from 7 p.m. 
in the summer and 6 p.m. in the winter until sunrise. During his term 
of office a hospital for the insane was erected and opened in South Boston. 
He was elected to Congress in 1850 to fill out the unexpired term of Robert 
C. Winthrop. Although a friend of the negro, he voted for the fugitive 
slave law, believing that the only way to preserve the Union, prevent 
war, and help the negro, was to support the actual Constitution. Near 
the end of his life a firm in which he was a silent partner failed, and he 
gave up all his property to meet the debt. Returning to Cambridge in 
"honorable poverty," he spent his time writing and editing books. He 
died January 29, 1862, one of the most respected citizens of his day. 



JONATHAN CHAPMAN 

Eighth Mayor, 1S40-41-42 

Jonathan Chapman was born January 23, 1807, and was the son of 
Jonathan Chapman, who had been a selectman of Boston. Preparing for 
college at Phillips Academy, he was graduated at Harvard and studied law 
under Judge Lemuel Shaw, then went into politics, and was elected mayor 
in December, 1839, and held office for three years. As the city debt had 
nearly doubled in eighteen years, though there had been a proportionate 
increase in the value of the property owned by the city, Mayor Chapman 
recommended a reduction of the city debt as the chief aim of his admin- 
istration. 

In his inaugural speech in 1841 Chapman spoke of the great com- 
mercial importance to Boston of the establishment in 1840 of the Cunard 
Line between Boston and Liverpool, and the opening of the new Western 
Railroad to the Hudson River. The old County Court-house was made 
over for the City Hall, and was occupied March 18, 1841. 

During his term of office he employed an extra police force to prosecute 
violations of the laws regarding liquor licenses. He was a brilliant speaker, 
and had considerable literary ability, contributing to the North Ameri- 
can Reviezv and other periodicals. He died ALiy 25, 1848. 



16 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 




Jonathan Chapman 




Manin Brimmer 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 17 



MARTIN BRIMMER 

Ninth Mayor, 1S4J-44 

Mayor Brimmer was described as "a most amiable and upright char- 
acter, a gentleman without reproach and a most useful citizen." He 
was born in Roxbury, June 8, 1793, the son of Martin and Sarah Brimmer; 
graduated from Harvard in 1814, where he was captain of the University 
Corps; and began business in the store of Theodore Lyman, Jr., but later 
went with Isaac Winslow S: Co. on Long Wharf. He was alderman in 
1838, and mayor two years. 

He was interested in education, and at his own expense printed and dis- 
tributed to every school in Massachusetts "The School and the School- 
master." Militia aiTairs also attracted his attention. He was ensign 
in the Third Regiment, Third Brigade, First Division, in 181 5, 1816, and 
1817, and lieutenant of the same in 1818. From 1819 to 1822, inclusive, 
he was captain of the Rangers, and brigade major under General Lyman 
from 1823 to 1826, inclusive. 

He became captain of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company 
in 1826, and in 1845 commander of the reorganized Independent Corps of 
Cadets. Brimmer was elected mayor as the Whig candidate. He had 
made a study of the disciplining and construction of prisons, and made 
suggestions that were carried out when the new prison was erected on 
Charles Street. He believed in extending and beautifying the streets 
and public places, in giving careful attention to health and police 
matters, and in a liberal encouragement of charitable and literary insti- 
tutions. His death occurred on April 25, 1847. 

THOMAS ASPINWALL DAVIS 

Tenth Mayor, iS^j 

Thomas Aspinwall Davis's ancestors were among the earliest settlers 
of Brookline, where he was born, December 11, 1798. He was educated 
in the public schools, learned the trade of a jeweller, and later became 
interested in politics, becoming the candidate for ma^or of a new party 
called the "Native American Party" against Josiah Quincy, Jr., and 
Adam W. Thaxter, Jr. Quincy withdrew, and finally Davis was elected 
on the eighth ballot. The only project of importance during his admin- 
istration was an effort to get a supply of city water from Long Pond, but 
it was defeated. Davis's health became so poor that he offered his resig- 
nation, which was not accepted and he continued to be the nominal 
mayor until he died, November 22, 1845. He bore an excellent char- 
acter, but lacked the qualifications to make a successful administrator. 

JOSIAH QUINCY, Jr. 

Eleventh Mayor, 1S46-4J-4S 

Josiah Quincy, Jr., was another of Boston's great mayors. During his 
administration the city secured the Long Pond, or Cochituate, water 
supply. His father, Boston's second mayor, had urged the securing 
of city water for Boston from the Charles or Neponset Rivers. Josiah, 



18 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 




Josiah Quincy, Jr. 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 19 

Jr., took up the project, and Loammi Baldwin, the eminent engineer, 
planned and constructed the Cochituate supply system, which cost 
^5,000,000, but brought water to every street in Boston. It was laugh- 
ingly said of Quincy, the junior: "He has written his name in water, yet 
it will last forever. The people of Boston have never found him dry, 
and he has taken care that they never shall be so." 

The mayor, aided by his father and the venerable John Quincy Adams, 
broke ground for the work at Long Pond, August 20, 1846. A banquet 
followed, at which the mayor suggested that, as the name Long Pond 
was without distinction, it should be changed to Cochituate, the Indian 
name. The suggestion was adopted, and so this source of supply has since 
been known as Cochituate. The tumult of one hundred guns and the 
ringing of all the church bells greeted the rising of the sun on the day of 
the opening of the supply, Octoljer 25, 1848. A procession marched to the 
Common, where children sang an ode written by James Russell Lovvell. 
Mayor Quincy and Nathan Hale, chairman of the Water Commission, 
made speeches, and the citizens were asked if it was their pleasure that 
water should be introduced. After a great roar of affirmation a gate 
was thrown open, and a column of water six inches through leaped 80 
feet into the air. Bells again rang, cannons were fired, and in the even- 
ing a display of fireworks occurred. 

Quincy was born January 17, 1802, in Boston on Pearl Street, fitted 
for Harvard at Phillips Academy, Andover, and graduated from college 
in 1821. He read law with William Sullivan, and was admitted to the 
bar, and married Jane, the daughter of Samuel R. Miller. Military 
affairs early attracted his attention. In 1833 he was a member of the 
City Council, and from 1834 to 1837 its president. He became president 
of the Senate in 1842, and mayor of Boston in 184.6. His veto, while 
chairman of the Board of Aldermen, of the liquor license showed great 
courage and elicited the admiration of his fellow-citizens. 

Great financial ability was shown by him in handling the Western 
Railroad, and he also displayed much ability as treasurer of the Central 
Vermont. He was treasurer of the Boston Athenaeum in 1837, and con- 
tinued such for fifteen years. As chairman of the Building Committee 
of the Athena;um, he personally indorsed loans to a large amount to 
help in erecting the building on Beacon Street. Mr. Quincy presided 
February 2, 1842, at the public festival in honor of Charles Dickens. 

"The mayor of the city of Salem sends his compliments to the mayor 
of the city of Boston, congratulating him on the new bond of union 
between the two cities," came over the telegraph wire when it was first 
stretched in December, 1847, between the two cities. Quincy replied, 
"The mayor of Boston reciprocates the compliment of the mayor of 
Salem, and rejoices that letters of light connect the metropolis with the 
birthplace of Bowditch." Mayor Quincy about this time remarked 
"that rum mixed with gunpowder was not the only means of inspiring 
courage," and "that men who stand alone are best fitted to stand 
together." During his administration the police were reorganized, and 
just before he retired from office he signed the contract for the erec- 
tion of the new jail at the corner of Charles and Cambridge Streets. 
He died November 2, 1882. 



20 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 




Benjamin Seaver 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 21 



JOHN PRESCOTT BIGELOW 

Tzvelfth Mayor, 1S4Q-50-51 

John Prescott Bigelow was the son of Timothy Bigelow, who for eleven 
years was speaker of the House of Representatives and was a grandson 
of Colonel Timothy Bigelow, the Revolutionary hero of Worcester. 
His birthplace was Groton, Mass., where he was born August 25, 
1797. Bigelow entered Harvard, and graduated in 181 5. 

He was admitted to the bar in 1818. In 1824 he went abroad, where he 
spent some years. His wife died in 1847, and his son also was taken from 
him, and he turned to politics, in which he had early taken an interest. 

He became a member of the Common Council for Ward 9, where he 
served nine years, being in 1832 and 1833 president of the council. He 
was one of those who worked the hardest to stay the cholera scourge which 
afflicted Boston. In 1828 the Whigs elected liim to the House of Repre- 
sentatives of Massachusetts, to which he was re-elected with the excep- 
tion of one year until 1836. He was prominent in the movement to 
reduce the number of membership (which was then over 700), was active 
on many committees, and took a leading part in railroad legislation. 

From 1836 to 1843 he served as Secretary of State with marked ability, 
and then became a member of the Executive Council under Governor 
Briggs, serving four years. He was elected mayor in 1848. During 
his tenure of office the jail at Charles and Cambridge Streets was com- 
pleted at a cost of ^450,000. In the summer of 1849 Asiatic cholera 
caused the death of no less than 5,080 people out of a population of 130,00c. 
An event that was fraught with much trouble for Mayor Bigelow was 
a meeting in 1850 at Faneuil Hall to congratulate George Thompson, 
the abolitionist, upon his arrival in this country. Cheers for Daniel 
Webster, Jenny Lind, and the Union, which the police, acting under 
instructions from Mayor Bigelow, did nothing to stop, broke up the 
meeting. The next year the Board of Aldermen declined to allow the 
use of Faneuil Hall for a reception to Daniel Webster, because of the fear 
of a disturbance. Webster and his friends were furious, and when 
the Common Council, with the concurrence of the mayor, later sent a 
committee to wait upon Webster at the Revere House and "tender him 
in the name of the City Council an invitation to meet and address his 
fellow-citizens in Faneuil Hall," Webster curtly replied it was not con- 
venient for him to accept. At the next election the mayor and council 
were all retired to private life. 

In 1851, the last term of Bigelow, every section of Boston was supplied 
with pure water at a cost of $4,321,000, the new almshouse was built on 
Deer Island, a system of telegraphic fire alarms invented by Dr. William 
F. Channing was installed, and the great pageant was held to celebrate 
the completion of the railroads between Boston and Canada and the 
Great Lakes. 

On Mayor Bigelow's retirement a number of friends wished to show 
him their appreciation by presenting him with a silver vase. He asked 
that the money be given to the Public Library, and this was the first gift 
the library received. Mr. Bigelow became one of its Board of Trustees. 
He died July 4, 1872. 



22 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 




Alexander II. Rice 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 23 



BENJAMIN SEAVER 

Thirteenth Mayor, 1852-53 

Benjamin Seaver was born April 12, 1795, was educated in the Roxbury 
Grammar School, and at the time of his election was an auctioneer. 
He was supported by Marshal Francis Tukey, who directed his men to 
work for him, but this did not prevent Seaver from removing Tukey 
from office, when Tukey criticised changes Seaver made. Seaver ran 
for mayor a third time, but was defeated by Mayor Smith. He died 
February 14, 1856. 

During Seaver's administration it was voted to erect a building for the 
Boston Public Library, and in December, 1853, a revision of the city 
charter was proposed. An act was also passed prohibiting the burial, 
except in certain cases, of people within the city limits. The adminis- 
tration was marked by efficiency and economy, as it was felt that the 
previous administration had put the city to great expense. 



JEROME VAN CROWNINSHIELD SMITH 

Fourteenth Mayor, iS 54-55 

Mayor Smith was an eminent practitioner of medicine as well as a 
litterateur of considerable ability. He was born July 20, 1800, at Conway, 
N.H., where his father practised medicine. After an A.M. degree. Smith 
secured also an M.D. from Williams College. He studied surgery under 
Dr. William Ingalls, an eminent surgeon of Boston, and as a pastime 
took up sculpture, executing the busts of Bishop Fitzpatrick, Hon. Mar- 
shall P. Wilder, Bishop Eastburn, and others. 

He became editor of the Boston Medical Intelligencer, later known as 
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, editing more than forty volumes 
thereof, and also made authoritative notes to an edition of Cooper's 
"Surgery." He edited the Boston IVeekly News Letter, and was the 
author of a treatise on the culture of the honey-bee and a history of the 
American Indian. 

His first public office was in 1826, when he became port physician. 
In 1837 he was elected to the state legislature, and put through a capita- 
tion tax on foreigners arriving at any port in Massachusetts, the money 
being used to care for poor and sick immigrants. The law was finally 
declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court. Dr. 
Smith served on the School Committee and also as a justice of the peace. 
In 1848 he was re-elected to the legislature, and was a candidate for 
mayor in 1852, and was finally elected in 1854. While in office, he advo- 
cated the introduction of pure water at city expense. Dr. Smith made 
many suggestions for the improvement of the city's government, though, 
fortunately for the city's credit, few of them were carried out. He 
recommended the sale of Quincy Market to private individuals; the 
erection of an insane asylum on Deer Island; the erection of a tall tower 
on Beacon Hill for the use of the Fire Telegraph and Fire Department 
offices; a forced sale of city land in order to promote the erection of build- 



24 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 




Joseph M. Wightman 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 25 



ings. He also advocated the appointment of a physician in each ward 
to serve the poor and to be paid by tlie city. His administration was 
not marked by anv great achievement. His death occurred August 21, 
1879. 

ALEXANDER HAMILTON RICE 

Fifteenth Mayor, 18^6-57 

Alexander Hamilton Rice was born August 30, 1818, at Newton Lower 
Falls, where his father was a paper manufacturer. He was educated in 
the Newton public schools, and entered the paper and publishing busi- 
ness. Acquiring a taste for literature, he went to Union College at 
Schenectady, and then went into business again, becoming a prominent 
paper manufacturer and dealer. Public affairs early attracted his at- 
tention. He held many offices, serving as a member of the Boston 
School Committee, Board of Public Institutions, Common Council, 
president of the Board of Trade, and as first Republican mayor of Boston. 
During his term as mayor the Back Bay was developed, the City Hos- 
pital started, and the Boston Public Library dedicated on Boylston 
Street. His speeches were brilliant efforts, particularly the ones at 
the unveiling of Washington's statue in the Boston Public Garden, 
of the Sumner and Farragut statues, and at the opening of the Marine 
Park in South Boston. During his second term Devonshire Street was 
laid out from Milk to Franklin, and Winthrop Square was opened. 

Although he gave the preference to members of his own party in his 
appointments as mayor, he acted quite independently of party lines in 
retaining every faithful and competent official he found in office. He 
reorganized the police system and consolidated the boards of govern- 
ment of public institutions. He went to Congress in 1859, serving in the 
36th, 37th, 38th, and 39th Congresses, and in 1867 declined a renomination. 
He took an active part in the reconstruction of the Union, served on 
the Committees on the District of Columbia, the Pacific Railroad, and 
Naval Affairs, one of his duties at the beginning of the Civil War being 
to collect the widely scattered navy. He made an elaborate report on 
the use of steam machinery in the navy, and carried its adoption in the 
face of much opposition. 

From 1876 to 1878 Rice was governor of Massachusetts. He inter- 
ested himself in education and in the state institutions for correction, 
reform, lunacy, and charity. He received while governor the degree of 
LL.D. from Harvard. He was a trustee of the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology and of the Museum of Fine Arts. He died July 22, 1895. 

FREDERICK WALKER LINCOLN, Jr. 

Sixteenth Mayor, 1S58-59-60, 186^-64-65-66 

Frederick Walker Lincoln, Jr., was born in Boston, February 27, 1817, 
and was educated at public and private schools, learned the trade of 
a maker of mathematical instruments, and soon rose to be a prominent 
business man. He was a member of the lower house of the legislature 
in 1847-48, and was a delegate in 1853 to the Constitutional Convention. 



26 MAYORS OF BOSTON 



When he attempted, during his first term as mayor, to uniform the 
police, the violent opposition which it engendered charged that he was 
copying the "liveried servants" of the Old World. On the other hand, his 
supporters said they had difficulty in finding a policeman in citizen's 
clothes, and welcomed the change which would make the policemen more 
conspicuous. It was Lincoln's practice to go about the city at night, 
often disguised, visiting saloons and gambling houses to learn if the laws 
were enforced. He was one of the first to perceive the need of the gov- 
ernment taking steps to preserve Boston Harbor, and his efforts in this 
direction bore fruit in 1859 in obtaining the co-operation of the United 
States government. In the same year plans for the improvement of the 
Public Garden were completed, but Lincoln's project of preserving the 
Back Bay as an open space was defeated. 

The slavery question was the most troublesome one during his admin- 
istration. On December 3, i860, occurred a collision between the aboli- 
tionists and the supporters of slavery. At a meeting held in Tremont 
Temple for the commemoration of the execution of John Brown and to 
consider the question of how American slavery could be abolished, pro- 
slavery men seized the hall, which was not protected by the authorities, 
and after filling it passed resolutions denouncing John Brown. The 
mayor had the hall cleared, and later an anti-slavery meeting was held 
in a colored church. Incipient riots followed, which the police, with a 
reserve of cavalry, speedily quelled. The conscript riots against drafting 
followed. Some women attacked a draft officer near the Boston Gas 
Light Company, and a mob collected, which surrounded the police station 
and the Armory. Firearms were stolen from a shop, and for a time there 
was a riot at Dock Square. Lincoln called out all the soldiers, and the 
trouble was stopped. During his administration the City Council gained 
the right to widen, lay out, and grade streets, and to assess abutters for 
the improvements. The Soldiers and Sailors Monument on the Common 
was erected, free public baths were started. Fort Hill was removed and 
the material used in filling the Back Bay, the new City Hall was first 
occupied, and steps were taken to construct the Chestnut Hill Reservoir 
during Mayor Lincoln's administration. As too much money had been 
spent by the city on junkets, street widening, new buildings, for the strait- 
ened war times, Lincoln was re-elected in 1863 to cut down expenses. 

After his retirement he continued to serve the city on such boards as 
Overseers of the Poor and Harbor Commissioners, and was one of the 
Relief Committee after the Boston Fire. He died September 13, 1898. 



JOSEPH MILNER WIGHTMAN 

Sevt-ntt-enth Mayor, 1S61-63 

Joseph Milner Wightman, who was born in Boston, October 19, 1812, 
of English parents, was apprenticed to a machinist, took up mathematics, 
physics, and engineering in his spare time, and finally became a manu- 
facturer of surgical instruments. The discussion about a city water 
supply enlisted his service, and led him to enter politics. He was on the 
School Committee for ten years, 1845-49 and from 1856-59 on the 
Board of Aldermen. The refusal of Moses Kimball to give the old line 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 27 



and Webster Whigs the use of Fancviil Hall for a Webster meeting re- 
sulted in his defeat for the mayoralty and the election of Wightman. 
Wightman showed no judgment in declining to allow anti-slavery agi- 
tators to hold a meeting in Tremont Hall. As the anti-slavery agitators 
feared that under Wightman, a Democrat, they would be deprived of 
free speech, they introduced a measure into the State Senate to give the 
state control of the police, which was eventually defeated. While action 
was pending on the measure, a meeting of anti-slavery advocates was held 
in Faneuil Hall, but the thirty police present made no effort to maintain 
order, and the meeting was soon interrupted by groans and hisses. At 
the request of the trustees of the building, who feared it would be injured, 
the mayor had the galleries cleared, but the trouble broke out again, and 
the meeting decided to adjourn until evening, when admission would be 
by ticket. When some of the disturbers said they would remain until 
evening, the mayor had the building cleared and refused to allow the even- 
ing meeting. 

He was very successful in supplying money for the expenses of fitting 
out soldiers and in providing for their subsistence. He also arranged so 
that the soldiers' pay could be remitted through him to their families. 
He laid the corner-stone of the new City Hall, December 23, 1862. En- 
thusiasm and energy were his in abundance, but he was a man of poor 
judgment. His death occurred January 28, 1885. 



OTIS NORCROSS 

Eighteenth Mayor, iS6j 

Otis Norcross was one of the few mayors who could truthfully say that 
during his connection with city affairs he never used a dollar of city 
money for his own use, never sold the city a dollar's worth of merchandise, 
never made a contract with the city directly or indirectly, and never put 
a friend or relative into office of any kind. He was born in the North 
End, November 2, 181 1, studied at Miss Davenport's School and then 
at Abel Whitney's School. He later went to the English High School, 
and at fourteen became an apprentice in his father's firm, Otis Norcross 
& Co., crockery dealers. His father died in 1827, and the son became 
a partner, retiring from business in 1867. 

In 1 87 1 he was one of the Boston Committee to relieve the Chicago 
fire sufferers; and in 1872, while the Boston Fire was raging, he was 
made treasurer of the Relief Committee. 

While a member of the Water Board in 1865, he helped in promoting 
the construction of the Chestnut Hill Reservoir. During his term as 
mayor, Roxbury was annexed. He welcomed President Johnson and 
General Sheridan as guests of the city, vetoed an order of the City Council 
for building an insane hospital at Winthrop, and was a member of a 
commission which selected a site for the new post-office. His failure 
to receive the customary second term was due to the stiffness of his \irtue, 
for he was not pliable enough to suit the politicians. He was one of the 
commission in 1873 for a new charter, which was not adopted. He was 
one of the original members of the Union Club, life member of the Boston 



28 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 




Nathaniel B. Shurtkff 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 29 



Natural History Society, on the Board of Trustees of the Institute of 
Technology, member of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society, 
and a member of many other organizations. His death occurred on 
September 5, 1882. 

NATHANIEL BRADSTREET SHURTLEFF 

Ninetrenth Mayor, iS6S-(ig-jo 

ShurtleflF is more known for his antic]uarian labors than for his worl; 
as mayor, although during his mayoralty many new streets and much 
territory were added to Boston. He was born in Boston, June 29, 1810, 
his father, Benjamin Shurtlcff, being a physician. He was educated in 
the Boston public schools, the Round Hill School, and at Harvard and 
the Harvard Medical School, where he became a medical demonstrator, 
and later succeeded to his father's large practice. He was elected ma\()r, 
December 9, 1867, on the Democratic ticket. 

He was not a good judge of human nature, knew little of the proper 
method of government, and, therefore, was not much of a success as a 
mayor. While he was in office, Atlantic Avenue was laid out along the 
line of the old Barricado, which connected the North Battery with the 
South, or Sconce, Broadway in South Boston was extended, Federal 
Street was widened, the East Boston ferries were taken over by the city, 
and Dorchester was added to Boston. During his term the power to 
lay out streets was taken from the Board of Aldermen and given to the 
Street Commissioners. He died October 17, 1874. 

He was the author of "A Topographical and Historical Description 
of Boston," and he edited the Massachusetts Colony Records and the 
New Plymouth Colony Records. He held many degrees, was a member 
of many historical societies, and was a member and secretary of the Board 
of Overseers of Harvard. 

WILLIAM GASTON 

Tuwntii-th Mayor, iSji-j3 

William Gaston was one of Boston's potent forces at a time when strong 
men were needed at the helm of administration; nor can we wonder he 
was of a forceful character, when we learn that in his veins ffowed the 
blood of the French Huguenots, a strain of the "Mayflower" Pilgrims, and 
also the blood of one of the followers of Roger Williams. One of his 
ancestors was Jean Gaston, a French Huguenot who. banished from France 
in the seventeenth century, sought refuge in Scotland, whence his sons 
in turn were driven by religious persecution, and found refuge in the 
north of Ireland. John Gaston, one of their descendants and the great- 
grandfather of Mayor Gaston, joined the Separatist colony in America, 
and was a freeman of Voluntown when the town was organized in 1736- 
37. It is said that he originally landed at Marblehead, Alass. Alexander 
Gaston, the mayor's father (whose brother, William Gaston, was after- 
ward United States Senator from North Carolina), had as second wife 
Kezia Arnold, of Brownville, R.I., and lived at Killingl}-, Conn., where 
their child, William Gaston, was born, October 3, 1820. William, whose 



30 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 




llenrv L. Pierce 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 31 



family crest was an owl, the bird of wisdom, studied at Plainfield Academy, 
and entered Brown University when he was but fifteen. As a boy, lie 
was active in all outdoor sports, yet eager and persistent in the pursuit of 
knowledge. He graduated with honors in 1840, and went to Boston, 
where he entered the law office of Judge Francis Hillard,of Roxbuiy. 
Completing his law course under Benjamin R. Curtis, later the justice of 
the United States Supreme Court who dissented from the Dred Scott 
decision, Gaston was admitted to the bar in 1844, began practice at 
Roxbury, and soon rose to be a leader of the Suffolk bar, where he was 
long noted as one of the ablest cross-examiners and jury lawyers. 

He had tact, talent, magnetism, earnestness, integrity, and tireless 
energy. His first public office was city solicitor of Roxbury, and he had 
served five years when he was elected by the Whigs to the legislature, 
and was re-elected in 1854 and in 1856. In 1861-62, after a brief retire- 
ment to private life, he was elected mayor of Roxbury. At the outbreak 
of the war he was most active in raising volunteers for the Union armies, 
and in 1862, after his election as mayor of Roxbury, he made a speech 
before the City Council in which he said: — 

"The duties of every citizen are now a hundred-fold greater than in 
times of peace. Patriotism can now find no excuse in lethargy or in 
inaction. A man, to be worth anything, must be awake, decided, and 
energetic. He who slumbers had better be dead. He who doubts had 
better be a traitor, for open treason is better than dead patriotism. The 
courage which rises with every obstacle is the courage which prevails." 

Often during the war he was at the front, visiting hospitals in search 
of Roxbury soldiers and bringing home news and messages to their 
friends. In 1868 he was elected to the State Senate, and was a con- 
spicuous leader of the Democracy. He served as one of the commissioners 
for the union of Roxbury and Boston, and in 1871 was elected mayor 
of Boston, and served during 1871 and 1872. At the time of the Great 
Fire he ordered a number of buildings in the path of the fire blown up, 
in order to save the city, and was urged by the citizens to blow up more. 
Later he was glad that he did not accede to their requests, for he was sued 
personally by some of the citizens whose buildings he had demolished. 
In 1875 he was chosen governor of the Commonwealth, and was the first 
Democrat to hold the office after the formation of the Republican part\'. 
Upon becoming governor, he gave up entirely his legal practice, so that, 
when he again retired to private life, he had to build up his practice again, 
but he soon became one of the leaders of the bar, and was always a figure 
of state-wide prominence. Both Harvard and Brown gave him the 
degree of LL.D., which is said to have gi\'en him greater gratification 
than all his political honors. He died on January 19, 1894. 

HENRY LILLIE PIERCE 

Tzventy-first Mayor, iS^j and iSjS 

To Henry Lillie Pierce belongs the distinction of building up a small 
chocolate mill into the largest of its kind in America and having made 
the name Walter Baker known all over the world. The original choco- 
late mill was on the Dorchester side of the Neponset River, on the site 



32 MAYORS OF BOSTON 

of what was called the Lower Mills. Here, according to the best informa- 
tion, the manufacture of chocolate was begun in America in 1765 by an 
Irish emigrant, "John Hannan." He wandered one day into the little 
saw-mill which stood on the Neponset, and asserted that he had learned 
in London a way to make a new kind of chocolate, and, if he could use 
a corner of the mill and a little water power, he could build up a good 
business. A part of the mill was set aside for his use, and he started 
the business, which later came into the possession of Dr. James Baker, 
then went to his son Edmund Baker, his grandson Walter Baker, and 
finally was acquired by his grandson's half-nephew, Henry L. Pierce. At 
the time that Pierce assumed control the business was profitable, but 
very small. At the end of forty-two years (1854-96) it had grown 
under Pierce's wise management to be the largest manufactory of its 
kind on the continent. As he always paid his employees well and treated 
them kindly, no labor troubles ever disturbed his work. 

Pierce was born August 23, 1825, at Stoughton. His father was an 
austere New England Methodist, and his mother was a strong-minded, 
out-spoken woman of pronounced prejudices. The son went to the various 
town schools and later to the Normal School. 

Pierce later went to work at ^3 a week in the mill of his mother's half- 
brother, Walter Baker. He and his half-uncle did not agree politically, 
and the friction became such that in a year Baker left and went West, 
where he vainly tried to get employment. He finally went back to his 
uncle's chocolate mill, and was put in charge of the Boston counting- 
room, just opened. Mr. Baker died in 1852, and his partner, Sidney B. 
Williams, in 1854. After prolonged negotiations the trustees of the 
Baker estate leased the chocolate plant to Mr. Pierce, and he was so 
successful that in 1884 the trustees conveyed the property to him. 

Mr. Pierce early became interested in political subjects, upon which 
he spoke and wrote. He was an ardent supporter of the Free Soil party, 
from which sprang Republicanism. Pierce helped to organize the straight 
Republican party as a protest against those Republicans who had coa- 
lesced with the "Know-nothing" party, which swept the state in 1854. 
In 1857 he was nominated treasurer and receiver-general of the party. 
He was sent in 1859 from Dorchester to the General Court, and served 
in 1860-61-62, becoming the leader of the Radical Republicans who 
opposed any concessions to the slaveholders. 

In 1869 he became a member of the Boston Board of Aldermen, as the 
first representative from the Dorchester section. The failure of the city 
authorities to check the small-pox epidemic, as well as their want of 
executive ability at the time of the Great Fire in 1872, led the business 
men to ask Mr. Pierce to run for mayor as non-partisan candidate, and 
he was elected by a close vote. 

He established a small-pox hospital, and effected the reorganization 
of the Health and Fire Departments. Air. Pierce successfully urged a 
commission to revise the city charter, and the opening of the Public 
Library Reading-room on Sunday. He was elected to Congress in 
November, 1873, and on the ist of December resigned as mayor. In 
response to a petition he again ran for mayor, and was elected. One of 
his principal acts was to reorganize the Police Department on an efficient 
basis. 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 33 

He was active in 1881 in the formation of tlie Massachusetts Tariff 
Reform League, of which Charles Francis Adams, Jr., became president. 
His eyes began to fail him during his last years, and he was advised by his 
physicians to be outdoors as much as possible. As he was very fond of 
the water, he spent much time on his yacht, cruising along the coast and 
crossing the Atlantic no less than thirty-five times, visiting every place 
worth while in Europe. He finally caught cold on a trip to Chicago, 
was stricken with paralysis, and died September 17, 1896. 

SAMUEL CROCKER COBB 

Twenty-second Mayor, 1SJ4-75-J6 

Samuel Crocker Cobb was long one of the merchants who carried on a 
foreign trade with Europe and South America. He was born at Taun- 
ton, May 22, 1826, and prepared for Harvard at Bristol Academy, 
Taunton, a school founded by his grandfather. But he was obliged to 
go to work when about sixteen as a clerk with A. &: C. Cunningham, 
foreign shipping merchants at 15 Rowe's Wharf. In 1847 he went into 
business with J. Henry Cunningham, his friend and fellow-clerk, under 
the name of Cunningham <i: Cobb. He was an alderman for Roxbury 
in i860, and, when Roxbury was annexed, became a member of the 
Boston Board of Aldermen. 

At a meeting of the citizens November 11, 1873, he was nominated 
for mayor, and was elected by 19,191 votes. So great was the demand 
for his renomination that he again ran, and was elected unanimously; 
and again he was elected in 1875. As the annexation of Charlestown, 
West Roxbury, and Brighton had added forty-four thousand inhabitants 
to Boston, Mayor Cobb supported heartily the revision of the charter by 
the commission which had been appointed by Mayor Pierce. The rec- 
ommendation of the commission was not adopted, but many of the pro- 
visions they suggested were afterward incorporated in special laws. He 
recommended the petition to the General Court for organizing the present 
system of public parks, established a paid Water Board, and helped to 
pass an act limiting the indebtedness of municipalities. After he retired 
from office he had many public and private trusts, and was a director in 
many institutions. At the time of his death, February 18, 1891, he was 
president of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati. 

FREDERICK OCTAVIUS PRINCE 

Twenty-third Mayor, iS/j-jQ-So-Sl 

Frederick Octavius Prince, who was noted primarily for his eloquent 
speeches, had a long line of ancestors who were more or less prominent 
in Boston. He could trace his line back to 1584, when John Prince, 
rector of East Sheffield, Berkshire, England, owned the estate called 
Abbey Foregate. Elder John Prince, of Hull, came to this country in 
1633, and his grandson, Thomas Prince, who graduated from Harvard in 
1707, was co-pastor of the Old South Church. Mayor Prince was born 
January 18, 1818. He fitted for college at the Boston Latin School, and 



34 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 




Frederick O. Princ 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 35 



was Class Poet at Hnrvard. He studied law, and became a member of 
the legislature for Winchester, serving in 1851, 1852, 1853, attaining 
great popularity by his speeches on reform. In 1854 he was a member of 
the Constitutional Convention and also of the State Senate. He at- 
tended many Democratic national conventions. He was elected mayor 
by the Democrats, and was economical during the first half of his admin- 
istration, but later sunk much money on the East Boston ferries. He 
adopted the Public Park scheme, improved the sewage system, and was 
instrumental in building the English and Latin High School buildings. 

He had tact, sagacity, and energy, but was often unable to make 
party and civic interests meet. He died June 6, 1899. 



SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN 

Twenty-fourth Mayor, iSSj 

Dr. Samuel Abbott Green, who enjoys the distinction of being Boston's 
oldest e.x-mayor, and now holds the position of librarian and vice-presi- 
dent of the Massachusetts Historical Society, was born in Groton, March 
16, 1830. His ancestors came here in 1636. He was educated at Groton 
Academy, now Lawrence Academy, and at Harvard. After four years' 
study abroad in some of the best hospitals, he returned to Boston and began 
the practice of medicine. He became in 1858 surgeon of the Second 
Massachusetts Militia Regiment, and went to the front at the outbreak 
of the War, where he served with distinction in his chosen profession. 
He planned the cemetery on Roanoke Island, one of the first cemeteries 
for soldiers who fell in the Civil War, and had charge of the hospital 
ship "Recruit" on the Burnside expedition to Roanoke Island. His 
official connection with the city of his adoption extends over many years 
and covers a wide range of activities. 

In 1860-62 he was a member of the School Board and again in 1865- 
72, when he was also superintendent of the Boston Dispensary. From 
1868-78 he was trustee of the Boston Public Library, and acting li- 
brarian from 1877 to 1878. He was the giver of the Franklin collection of 
books and engravings now in the Public Library, city physician 1871- 
82, and was in the last part of 1881 elected mayor as a candidate of the 
Citizens and Republican parties. During his administration, politicians 
found that it did not pay to lounge in the corridors of the City Hall. The 
Police Commissioners were removed, and receipts from liquor licenses 
increased by over ^22,000. In a paper advocating his re-election it was 
said: — 

"For ten years city physician, he has probably a more intimate knowl- 
edge of the poor and a firmer hold upon their heart-strings than any man 
in the community. His home is, and has been for a long period, in 
Kneeland Street, and there, in the very midst of the suffering classes, 
he has been ever ready to listen to any tale of sorrow or discouragement 
and any request for counsel or comfort from the lips of the needy." 

When the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII. of England, visited 
Boston, he was shown over the rooms of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society where Dr. Green was librarian. The Prince was much inter- 



36 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 




Albert Palmer 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 37 



ested in John Winthrop's History of New England and Washington's 
epaulets. The date of the visit happened to he the anniversary of the 
surrender of Cornwallis. 

Ex-Mayor Green lived in Kneeland Street and on Harrison Avenue 
for over half a centurv. 



ALBERT PALMER 

Twenty-fifth Mayor, iSSj 

Albert Palmer was wholly a self-made man. He was the son of a small 
farmer of Candia, N.H., where he was born, January 17, 1831, and where 
in the intervals of work he obtained what elementary education he could. 
When he was but fourteen years old, he taught school to get the means 
with which to go to Phillips Academy, Exeter, and when he was twenty- 
three entered Dartmouth, where he graduated second in his class. He 
taught school in West Cambridge and in the Boston Latin School. He 
organized the Jamaica Pond L-e Company, which was a great financial 
success, and he served for many years as its treasurer, and later as presi- 
dent. Becoming interested in politics, he was elected in 1 872 to the House 
of Representatives, serving until 1874, inclusive, acting as the chairman 
of the Joint Committee on Railroads. He was in the State Senate from 
1875 to 1880, and for a time was chairman of the Committee on Federal 
Relations. He left the Republican party in 1879, and became a Democrat 
and a follower of General Butler. He was defeated for mayor in 1882 
by Dr. Samuel A. Green, but was elected the following year. Through 
his eiforts Franklin Park was laid out. He died \Liy 21, 1887. 



AUGUSTUS PEARL MARTIN 

Tawnty-sixih Mayor, 1SS4 

General Martin was born November 23, 1835, in Piscataqua, Me., 
and was brought to Boston early in life. He attended the public and 
private schools, and then engaged in the leather trade. He enlisted in 
the army at the outbreak of the Civil War, and his bravery in leading a 
battery to the top of "Little Round Top" helped greatly in achieving 
the Union victory. He was chief marshal at the dedication of the Army 
and Navy Monument and at the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary 
of Boston. After much urging he became, in 1883, the Citizens and Re- 
publican candidate for mayor, and gave the city "a plain, practical, reso- 
lute, and honest government." He was made chairman of the Board of 
Police under Greenhalge, to rid the city of crime and to enforce the laws. 
His enemies brought charges against him, but the council did not sus- 
tain them. At the time of his death, on March 13, 1902, he was water 
commissioner. 



38 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 




Hugh O'Brien 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 39 



HUGH O'BRIEN 

Twi-nty-sevcnth Mayor, iSS^-SoSj-SS 

Hugh O'Brien was born in Ireland, July 13, 1827, and came to this 
country while a child. He went to the public schools, but left at twcKe 
to earn his living in newspaper work and publishing, and later entered 
politics, where he served almost continuously from 1875 to 1883 on the 
Board of Aldermen. He was a strong advocate of public parks, and a 
powerful argument of his caused the city to acquire the Franklin Park 
lands in West Roxbury, Back Bay lands, and the large tract at Cit}- 
Point. Always a champion of the laboring classes, he was most potent 
in passing ordinances regulating the pay of men working for city con- 
tractors. He endeavored to limit the municipal expenditures, so that 
the amount to be raised by taxes would be greatly decreased. During 
his four terms as mayor he showed great decision in making the necessary 
changes In offices and in controlling the expenses made by changes in busi- 
ness methods. After retiring from the mayoralty, he was appointed 
by Mayor Matthews to the Board of Survey for plotting streets. He died 
August I, 1895. 

THOMAS NORTON HART 

Tzventy-fighth Mayor, 1889-go, igoo-oi 

Thomas Norton Hart was bom in Reading, January 20, 1829, and 
after a country school education came to Boston, a penniless boy, to seek 
his fortune. He acquired a competency in mercantile business, and became 
president of the Mount Vernon National Bank. In 1879 to 1881 he 
was a member of the Common Council, and in 1882, 1885, and 1886 a 
member of the Board of Aldermen, and was four times defeated for ma\or 
and three times elected. As alderman, he opposed the granting of a 
franchise to the Bay State Gas Company "to enter the streets of Boston 
for the sole purpose of making money." While mayor, he attended strictly 
to his duty, seeing that the streets were swept, the city finances were 
put into systematic shape. He opposed the extinction of the City Council 
in 1897, and also acts of the legislature which allowed the city to incur 
further debts, believing, however, that money should be spent for neces- 
sary work, such as paving streets, sewers, water department needs, and 
schools. Thinking that business should come before sentiment and orna- 
ment, he fought excessive expenditures for parks. He advocated build- 
ing a subway, but not with city funds. He is at the time of writing still 
living. 

NATHAN MATTHEWS, Jr. 

Twenty-ninth Mayor, iSQi-g2-g;^-g4 

Nathan Matthews, Jr., was a native of Boston, and was born March 
28, 1854, and is still living. He was educated at Harvard, in Germany, 
and received from the Harvard Law School a LL.D. He has been 
a lecturer on municipal government at Harvard. Entering politics 
early in life as a Democrat, he was elected mayor four times, receiving 
at his second election the largest majority given any mayor up to that 



40 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 




Nathan Matthews, Jr. 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 41 



time and with one exception the largest ever given. He opposed Mayor 
Hart's suggestion that the tax and debt limits be increased, and during 
his terms of office stood for economy and efficiency in the management 
of public affairs. He reduced the number of executive departments, 
brought the street departments into closer relations, thereby effecting 
greater economy, systematized street cleaning, brought the ferries under 
one head, and wire inspectors under the Fire Department. Many school- 
houses were erected, and the Tremont Street subway built. His whole 
course as mayor was opposed to laxity or corruption in city management. 
He was first chairman of the Boston Finance Commission in 1907-09. 

EDWIN UPTON CURTIS 

Thirtieth Mayor, 1895 

Edwin Upton Curtis was born March 26, 1861, in Roxbury. His 
father, an ex-alderman of Boston, was one of the picturesque characters 
of the city, always wearing a blue coat with brass buttons. Mr. Curtis 
graduated at Bowdoin College, and was admitted to the bar. Early 
entering politics, he held many offices, serving as city clerk of Boston, 
secretary of the Republican City Committee, mayor of Boston, Assist- 
ant United States Treasurer at Boston, Collector of Customs for the 
Port of Boston, and also as member of the Metropolitan Park Commis- 
sion. 

In his inaugural he advocated the importance of special financial 
provision for educational buildings and facilities, the desirability of a 
Board of Election Commissioners, the policy of having special examina- 
tions of the city's financial system and resources, and making provision 
for public parks and other needs. All election machinery was placed 
in the control of a Board of Election Commissioners, composed of four 
men, two from each great political party. His whole administration was 
characterized by a regulation of expense. He is still living. 

JOSIAH QUINCY 

Thirty-first Mayor, iSg6-gj-gS-gg 

Josiah Quincy, the last of Boston's famous Quincys, was born October 
15, 1859, at Quincy, the son of Josiah Phillips Quincy and Helen F. Quincy, 
and is living. Graduating at Harvard in 1880, he was admitted to the 
bar in 1884, and became a member of the Massachusetts House of 
Representatives in 1887, serving 1888, 1890, and 1891. He was chairman 
of the Democratic State Committee in 1891-92 and again in 1906. In 
1893 he was First Assistant Secretary of State for six months under 
Grover Cleveland. Quincy, who had been an effective speaker in the 
state campaign of 1895, was elected mayor in that year and served the 
first two years' term, the election to the office having been annual. In 
1897 he was re-elected, and served until January, 1900. He appointed 
an advisory board of leading business men to act with him in matters 
of business, taxes, and finance affecting the municipality. His adminis- 
tration was marked by the erection of the South Union Station, uniting 



42 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 




J OS i ah Quincy 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 43 



the terminals of the various railroads entering the city from the South 
and West; was especially interested in the system of public baths, gym- 
nasia, and pla}'prounds, which have grown to large dimensions in Boston, 
and in other progressive measures for the benefit of the masses of the 
people. 

He is a member of the Union Club, the Society of Colonial Wars, 
Loyal Legion, the City Clubs of Boston and New York, and various 
other organizations. He has been since 1906 a member of the Boston 
Rapid Transit Commission. 

PATRICK ANDREW COLLINS 

Thirty-second Mayor, iqoj-oj-O^-o^ 

General Collins was one of Boston's greatest Irishmen, and was re- 
spected by the "blue stocking" element as much as by his own race. He 
was born at Ballina Fauna, Ireland, March 12, 1844, where his father was 
a respected farmer, who was often called to settle disputes among his 
neighbors and was an ardent supporter of Irish liberty and rights, so that 
Mayor Collins as a child was imbued with devotion to Irish freedom. 

The Collins family came to America, and finally settled in Chelsea, 
where Collins attended school and passed some unhappy years, as the 
Know-nothing movement at this time, 1848, was at its height. He was 
persecuted as Irish and a Catholic by his schoolmates. During one of 
the Know-nothing riots Collins's arm was broken. After leaving school, 
he worked in a fish market. Through the influence of Robert Morris, 
the first colored lawyer, who took a great interest in the boy, Collins was 
filled with a desire for an education. His mother went to Ohio in 1857, 
and Collins tried to earn a living in many ways, working as a miner, a 
carter, and an upholsterer. He wished to become a machinist, but was 
not physically strong enough. He finally returned to South Boston, 
where he worked at his trade, soon becoming the highest-paid journey- 
man, and working in Boston, to which he walked every day, going back 
in the evening for his supper. After supper he returned to Boston to 
spend the evening studying in the Public Library, and at the close of his 
evenings reading Greek, Roman, French, and English history, fiction, and 
poetry. Having a remarkable memory, he stored his mind with facts, 
which he was afterwards able to use to great advantage in his public 
career. 

He finally saved money enough to study law, first with James Keith, 
a Democrat and a fine lawyer of the old school, and later took a degree at 
Harvard Law School. When he opened his office, the first case was 
brought to him by Leopold Morse, who ever took pleasure in bringing 
opportunity to others. In 1867, when he was but twenty-three, he cap- 
tivated an audience at a political meeting he chanced to attend, and was 
made a delegate to the party convention. 

His support of the Fenian movement brought upon him the disappro^al 
of the Catholic clergy, who sharply criticised him. 

He was a member of the legislature in 1868 and 1869, and of the State 
Senate in 1870 and 1871, where he was then the youngest man who had 
ever become a member, and was chairman of the Harbor and Land 



44 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 




Daniel A. JVhelton 



MAYORS OFBOSTON 45 



Commission. In 1883-85 he was in Congress, where he served on the 
Judiciary Committee and worked for uniform bankruptcy laws and inter- 
national copyright. Under Governor Gaston he was judge advocate, 
and later was president of the Irish Land League and received the free- 
dom of Dublin and Cork. His campaign work for Cleveland swung the 
Irish vote to the latter, and he was appointed consul-general to London. 
He felt that Boston had gone too far in the direction of "benevolent 
socialism," and made new appointments to the heads of most city depart- 
ments. He impressed upon the heads he appointed that he would 
hold them, and no one else, responsible for any dishonesty or laxity in 
the management of their department. He favored home rule in city 
affairs; opposed enlargement of taxes and drafts for maintenance and 
improvements of parks and sewers; held out firmly against raising the 
salaries of city employees and pensions for their widows. He stood against 
injuries to the historic interest of the city, such as encroachments on the 
Common, tearing down the Old South Meeting-house, changing Copp's 
Hill or the Granary Burying-ground. Governor Crane accepted his 
opinion on all matters relating to Boston that came before him, vetoing 
all measures which the mayor deemed improper. Collins approved the 
freeing of Cuba, but disapproved the acquisition of Porto Rico and the 
Philippines. He died September 14, 1905, while in office. Of him 
Grover Cleveland said, "In public life he was strictly honest and sincerely 
devoted to the responsibilities which office-holding involves." 

DANIEL A. WHELTON 

Thirty-third Mayor, from September ij, IQOJ, until the end of the year 

Daniel A. Whelton became acting mayor and then mayor of Boston, 
filling out the unexpired term of General Collins, from September 15, 
1905, to the end of the year. He was born January i, 1872, in the West 
End, and was educated at St. Mary's School, from which he graduated 
in 1886. After attending the Evening High School for a few months^ he 
entered the employ of Henry A. Young & Co., book publishers, and 
then became a salesman for De Wolfe, F iske & Co. 

In 1895 he was United States Revenue Ganger, and held the office until 
1903. He was at one time a warden in caucus; also an election officer. 
He became interested in politics, and was a member of the Common 
Council in 1894, and again in 1895, when he served on the Finance Com- 
mittee. He was chairman of the Board of Aldermen in 1905. He is 
now one of the deputy sheriffs of Boston. 

JOHN FRANCIS FITZGERALD 

Thirty-fourth Mayor, IQ06-OJ, IQIO-1 1-12-13 

John Francis Fitzgerald was the mayor of Boston when this brochure 
was on the press. He enjoys the distinction of probably being the most 
energetic incumbent that has yet held the office of mayor. Since he has 
been mayor, he has left no stone unturned to make Boston one of the 
great seaports of the coast, as well as a greater manufacturing and in- 



46 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 




George A. Hibbard 



MAYORS OF BOSTON 47 



dustrial centre. In and out of New England he has advocated the bring- 
ing of new steamship Hnes to Boston, the improvement of harbor facilities, 
tlie building of better wharves, and the creation of many lines of civic 
work that would make Boston bigger and busier. 

He has provided the means for every citizen to voice the needs of his 
particular section by establishing a series of district town meetings in 
different sections of the city, which were not represented in the City 
Council by the aldermen-at-large. To accomplish this, the mayor and 
City Council hold a meeting at various periods of the jxar in those sec- 
tions, at which any citizen has an opportunity to present his grievance 
or request. These meetings have been popular, and frequently a unani- 
mous vote of thanks has been given by those who have been concerned in 
the meeting. Mayor Fitzgerald has enthusiastically advocated opening 
commercial negotiations with South America, urging that the schools 
should teach Spanish, so that the younger generation would be able to 
further our commercial relations with the Southern Republics. 

Mayor Fitzgerald has also been active in humanitarian aifairs, provid- 
ing free rides on the ferry for the poor on hot nights and having the 
Fire Department flush the streets at intervals during intensely hot 
weather. The efficiency of the Board of Health has also been increased 
by adding a corps of ten nurses under a medical inspector for the care 
of diseases dangerous to the public health. To him also thanks are due 
for awakening a civic interest in the festival of Christmas, observing it 
officially by a celebration on the Boston Common, which has been en- 
thusiastically attended by many. 

In short, to use the mayor's own words, "I have not been content 
merely to fulfil the letter of the duties of the mayor's office, but I have 
endeavored by every means to make the city better and more prosper- 
ous." 

He was born February ii, 1863, in the North End, where lie is said to 
have a speaking acquaintance with every man, woman, and child, and 
was educated at the Eliot Grammar School, the Boston Latin School, 
and had one year at the Harvard Medical School. For a brief period he 
was employed in the Custom House, but soon left to give his attention 
to business and politics. He went into the real estate and insurance busi- 
ness, and was not long engaged when he was looked upon as one of the 
most successful young men in that line in the whole city. He spent con- 
siderable time and much thought in becoming acquainted with and gain- 
ing the good-will of every one in his ward who had a vote. Taking a keen 
interest in the personal affairs of all in his district, not only did he keep 
a card index of men needing work and employ a secretary to look after 
them, but he was wont to go out personally and look for work for the un- 
employed in his district. So that his practical efforts for the poor of his 
district, as well as his social qualities, have created a body of devoted and 
grateful admirers and followers upon whose support he can always count. 

He served as a member of the Boston Common Council in 1892, and 
the Massachusetts Senate 1893-94, the 54th, S5th, 56th Congresses 
from 1895-1901, and for six years has been mayor of his city, having been 
first elected in 1905. He obtained his first election by defeating the 
organization forces in twenty-one out of the twent_\-five wards of tlie 
city. 



48 MAYORS OF BOSTON 



During his administration the High School of Commerce has been 
opened, and the School of Practical Arts for Girls, and the Consumptives' 
Hospital established. He inaugurated the Saturday half-holiday for 
city employees, has built many playgrounds, the Charlestown Armory, 
new bath-houses, increased the pay of laborers, wood-blocked Washing- 
ton Street, and started the annex to the City Hall. During his term the 
subway was opened to Cambridge, and underground rapid transit de- 
veloped in other ways. New streets and sewers have been added, the 
water front enlarged, Arlington Street widened, the Zoo and Aquarium 
opened at Franklin Park, and the soil of Boston Common renewed. 
Mayor Fitzgerald is married, and has a large family. He is a fluent public 
speaker, and has a genial manner and much magnetism. 

His life is an illustration of the heights to which one can rise who has 
indomitable pluck. 

GEORGE ALBEE HIBBARD 

Thirty-fifth Mayor, igoS-og 

George Albee Hibbard was born October 27, 1864, in Boston, and was 
educated in the public schools. His father was a strong anti-slavery 
man. At twenty Hibbard was a clerk in Quincy Market in the stall of 
his father, a wholesale produce dealer. Later he went into the insurance 
business, then became a member of a firm of commercial paper dealers, 
and finally treasurer of a tailoring company. As a business man, he was 
not a success. He entered politics, served on ward and city Republican 
committees, managed minor companies, and was elected in 1894 to the 
state legislature, and missed by one vote being elected State Treasurer 
to fill out the unexpired term of Henry M. Phillips. 

After serving in the lower house of the legislature, he was appointed 
in 1890 postmaster of Boston, making such an efficient and honest public 
servant that in 1908 he defeated John F. Fitzgerald for mayor in a closely 
fought campaign. He gave the city so efficient a business administra- 
tion that he effected savings in one year of a million dollars. He 
removed all "students" and politicians who were not needed from the 
city pay-roll, and paid no attention to the slates of appointments made 
by the professional politicians. He naturally made many enemies, and 
under the provision of the new charter the Reformers chose James J. 
Storrow instead of Hibbard as the Reform candidate. Hibbard with 
no money and against the advice of many of his best friends ran inde- 
pendently, but was badly beaten. Mayor-elect Fitzgerald named him 
for city collector, but the Civil Service Commission rejected his name, 
and Hibbard soon after died, May 29, 1910, a disappointed man, feeling 
that his efforts to give his city an honest administration had not been 
appreciated by the very ones who desired economy and efficiency in 
public affairs. "In spite of mistakes he ended all known practices of a 
vicious nature embraced within the meaning of the term graft", said 
John A. Sullivan, chairman of the Finance Commission. 



